Development Cycle Archive
Thread: Friday Feature Jan 23rd Jedi Revamp
Hey Q and true Star Wars Fans.
Here is a thought. Be rid of the entire Master Jedi Profession! The hologrinding, the whine, the permadeath, rid it from this game.
In this time period of STAR WARS LORE, only Yoda, Darth Vader, and the Emperor are offically the only 'Jedi' and 'Sith' Masters. There are a few others who are alive during this time frame such as Vergere (with the Yuuzhan Vong) and Mara Jade (Emperor's Hand). It isn't until Luke Skywalker realize that he might bring back the Jedi Order, IF HE LOCATED AND TRAINED FORCE SENSITIVE INDIVIDUALS (SW: The New Essential Guide to Characters page 158-160) and sometime later he devoted himself to finding apprentices. Fast forward a few years and after his experiences on Byss, Luke truely became a Jedi Master, the first of a new Jedi Order in which will eventually lead to a new Jedi acadamy on Yavin IV.
Here is what I propose:
1. Get rid ofinitial Jedi Profession and get rid of hologrinding for the different professions. After all, Luke didn't become a smuggler, or a Medic, or any other professions except as a pilot and eventually becoming a commander for the New Republic. But keep the holocron's in the game! Use these holocrons (or offer revamp holocrons) for begining quests.
2. After so many quests, which will lead to either Luke Skywalker, Yoda, Lord Vader, or the Emporer, and after Player Charactors have completed those Quests, then have a Force Sensitive Slot open up in the regular skills box (no new charactor creation what-so-ever). When a slot opens and the PC learns of this, then let the PC get a one time oppurtunity to seek out the intial Jedi Teacher who will teach the PC on becoming a Jedi Intiate.
3. Once a PC decides to take a path of the Jedi, allow only CERTAIN SKILLS. One automatic column for Lightsaber developement/combat and one additional column for a PC to choose on what he/she wants. Think of Jacen Solo with his affinity towards Animals (Creature Handler), or Anikan Solo with his ability with electronics and machines (Droid Engineer), and other SW charectors who had or have PARTIAL JEDI SKILLS (FORCE SENSTIVE ABILITY but WERE NOT MASTERSUNTIL LUKEOPENEDUPA JEDI ACADAMEY). Double the experience point requirements for the intial Jedi/Sithskill boxes. Add more skill points if need be.
Well, that is far as my thoughts came up with. I want everyone who is willing to expand on this and I HOPE THE DEV'S CONSIDER THIS AS AN OPTION. I love the SW universe since I was a child and I really hope to see a better improvement on this game concerning the Jedi.
Sunny, Valcyn Server
Master Sergeant: Imperial Military
Their is no dark, there is no light, there is only the force.
I've been thinking for about a month that people would get burned out on hologrinding soon. The people who were totally persue it would finally become Jedi, and everyone would eventually start getting back to normal again, after they tried out their jedi and didnt like the fear of permadeath and the limitations.
Anybody who wanted a Jedi could have one, but only a few would actually play them at any given time.
I know a fair amount of people who knew what their main character templates would be once they unlocked their fs slot. Lots of people were grinding as fast as possible just to get the process over with.
I thought this could have been the purpose of the holiday holocron giveaway: to encourage everyone who wanted to grind to get it over with so the game could go on.
I figured this would happen in about March or April.
Why the devs couldn't just take a "wait and see" attitude for another month or two, I have no idea.
I guess they were afraid of loosing a lot of customers before then.
What I guess they didn't realize is that they might loose a lot of customers because of these new changes.
Another example of the devs over-reacting: they said they didn't expect any Jedis in the game for at least 6 months.After thegame had been out about 4 months, the devs said a handful of players were really close to unlocking their fs slots, and it was only a matter of time til they did. Then a week or two later, they introduced the Holocron phenomenon.
The system for becoming a Jedi wasn't great, but revealing it was much, much worse.
They revealed the man behind the curtain.
The Wizard was just a bad salesman in a bad suit.
I've got to say that I've only read the Jedi forum a handful of times. I've had little interest in becoming a Jedi. I figured I'd become one in 6 months or so, not looking at a holocron until I finished up all the professions I was interested in. I have 4 holocrons in my living room. I was hoping that perhaps just doing what I was interested might possibly unlock my slot without even trying. It would just be a surprise. The quest ideas sound much much better.
I am just concerned about the future of this game.
Perhaps the devs are throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
I am more calm now.
I wish you luck on fixing this mess,
I understand that 70 percent of this games player base will love this idea...its the other 30 that will cause you the harm.
Some will quit...others will complain for a few weeks, but since almost nobody will see it you are safe...some will shout the news from the rooftops and the word will get out...others will stew just waiting for the new game to jump ship....some have left and will not return....
I know this has been said before....but if I am on a ship and the rats are jumping ship....your ship is sinking,
It may not be this year or next but this thing is broken...and the blame lies with YOU.
Why give us holiday holos just to revoke the path.
Why go back on everything you said during development or in the manuals or the website.
Why are you revamping the whole game...combat Jedi etc etc.
Why do you send trail ballons of changed and when we state why is is a bad idea you do it anyway.
Why add account reactivation Free Trail ? Have a lot of people left ?
You stated The consecutive play hours have gone up - You are numbers driven and have no clue what is behind that stat - HOLOgrinding afk people not people enjoying your game.
If you are calm and not afraid of the inpending doom of a fail game you are kidding yourself.
I love this game - my job is to play and have fun yours is to fix it - Good luck
Doesn't say the FS-slot-opening system, just says the Jedi System
"It has been agreed that the development team should revamp the Jedi system."
Again, doesn't mention opening your FS slot, only talking about the Jedi system, which implies the system of becoming a full-fledged Jedi using the FS-character you created (not your main character).
"The second phase will be to rebuild the Jedi system to be quest-oriented; and toinclude the familiar elements of Force Sensitivity, Jedi-oriented quests, as well as many other elements the developers and the community feel should make up the process of becoming a Jedi. (It should also be noted that players who have put in work towards becoming a Jedi will not lose their effort. Some sort of recognition of players' efforts will be included in the new system.)"
This is not talking about the quest to open your FS slot, it is talking about quests taken by the character who is working towards becoming a Jedi, that is, the FS-character you are trying to create by doing holo-grinding.
"The permadeath system is being removed and changed to a skill revocation system based on deaths. Deaths will decay from the death counter after one week. Deaths after a buffer (3 to 5 depending on advancement) will have a skill revocation penalty. Skill revocation will be slight at first, but will increase in penalty as the player accumulates more and more non-decayed deaths. The skill revocation penalty will increase as a player advances up the skill tree. The skill to be revoked will be randomly chosen from the last skill earned in each of the 4 skill branches. No more than one skill will be revoked at a time, though players can get to a state where they lose a skill each time they die."
Everything mentioned above deals with a FS-character, not with a main character attempting to open a FS-Slot.
"This is all of the information that is available at this time. As additional developments occur, we will post more information."
Back to holo-grinding, folks. Nothing more to see here. Move along. Excuse me, got to go back to making my musician into a bounty hunter (may god have mercy on her soul).
/cries;
I COULD HAVE NOT SAID IT BETTER MYSELF
i dont know what to beleive in this game anymore! what am i working towards if it might not be there next week? they will have to have 2 ways to become jedi, the current one and the new system and let a player choose.
they will piss way to many people off if the screw all the hologrinders. im sure sony is hearing alot of **edit** on this.
We are going from Pet Wars to Droid Wars and Jedi Wars.
What happened to Star Wars?
ok. Im talking to a Jedi and a friend of mine right now. The jedi is saying a 4th tier skillbox in the Jedi Knight skill tree is the equivalent of about 1.6 million combat xp.
That's the equvialent of 16 million weapon xp.
So what I'm saying is that I guess I over-reacted.
There will need to be some balancing, but the more I think about it, this doesnt seem like the worst idea ever actually.
I think the devs will find ways to keep the Jedi population down.
This will actually be good for me as a bounty hunter.
More jedis playing more often means more business 
Soeman (sp?)
That boy just summed up the feellings shared here by the loyal players who have been earning their slot with the system in place.
Amazing they did this when some people bought the game for Christmas when they heard you get a Holo that can help you along your way to Jedi and then BAM, change it.
Im hoping the devs will pull through and let the ones who have completed their 4th holo and got a silent can complete grinding it out.
Let me continue my path...
biwan: